Taste of Freedom
by Fjaril
Summary: It's their sixth year. Ron sends his daughter off certain that he can: "trust her judgment". Rose knows this and still she does something so utterly stupid. But it will soon be over and no one will ever know...
1. Chapter 1

There was a soft knock on the door and as Rose turned around it opened

There was a soft knock on the door and as Rose turned around it opened. She had just packed the magically modified mp3 her granddad had experimented a little with. He had said with great enthusiasm that it would absolutely work at Hogwarts now. Turning around she gave a small smile at her mother whom had just entered the room.

"Oh, so you're already up!" the slightly surprised Hermione said to her daughter, she let her eyes travel over the room before giving Rose a great smile. "And you're all packed too, you astonish me Rosie." Ron turned up in he doorframe behind his wife "Well of course she is ready to go, it's her inheritance …she gets it from her father" Rose sniggered and Hermione simply rolled her eyes. "Did you mange to get Hugo out of bed?" "Nah, you'll have to go" Ron said apologetically and gave her a peck on the lips.

As both of them left her room Rose turned to the wooden framed mirror and eyed her reflection. She was not even going to bother to tame her long hair; instead she just gathered it all and fastened a golden buckle to keep it in place. The colour was actually quit beautiful, a deep mix of red and auburn. But this morning it was a total mess, and it was most mornings. Only on rare occasions and only if she would start working with it as soon as she gotten out of the shower, the result could be good. Her hair was bushy as her mothers had been but she could thank her lucky star it was not even half as bad as Hermione's had once been. Rose had pale skin even though it was late summer, the only trace the sun had left were a few more freckles. During winter time she only had freckles over the bridge of her nose and cheekbones, now they spread over pretty much her entire face. Even her shoulders had gotten a few freckles. She put on a light layer of make-up to hide some of them and started to walk out of her room, but she changed her mind and went back to the mirror to put on some lip-gloss in a deep terracotta red colour. She tried a smile, thinking sadly that she would not come back here for at least half a year.

For the first time in history they had not been late for the train, Hermione had successfully driven Hugo out of his bed while Ron helped him pack (using a lot of force and some shrinking spells). They had arrived at the platform with a whole 15 minutes to go. While they hugged, the Potters had burst in to the platform looking stressed. Harry with a tight grip on Lily's hand like he was afraid she'd get lost. Lily on the other hand looked quite irritated with her father and was desperately trying to make him understand she wasn't a baby anymore. "Dad, why are you so worked up, it was only a letter…" The look Harry gave his daughter had both Ron's and Hermione's eyebrows raised. "Hey mate cut her some slack will you! She can't have done something that bad…" Harry shifted his glare to Ron who raised his hands in surrender. Ginny just seemed pretty bemused by her husband's behaviour. "Honey, Lily is growing up, plus Jasper Grey seems like a really nice boy. "Mum!" Lily blushed but her blush could by no means be compared to the redness that rose over Harry's face. While Hermione tried to hide her smile with one hand Ron had no thought of hiding his laughter. He laughed out loud at Harry's inconvenience and only the pain from his wife's elbow in his side could calm him. "Com on mate, that's not the end of the world, isn't the most important thing that Lily is happy?" "I'll remember those words when it's you're daughter, _mate._" A brief moment Ron dropped the smile but he quickly regained. "I trust my daughter's judgement!" With a broad smile he patted Rose's shoulder and she smiled back at him. Harry gave him a sceptical look and murmured something under his breath, then with a dejected sigh he let go of Lily's hand and ruffled her hair.

Lily was the only one of Harry's and Ginny's kids who had not gotten sorted into Gryffindor, she was in Ravenclaw and this day she showed up a brand new prefect badge. Harry seemed really proud and when Hugo showed he had gotten one too they both started discussing how to evolve the prefect-system and integrate the houses (Hugo was in Hufflepuff and not in Ravenclaw as Lily was). Rose felt a sting of sadness as she heard her mother and Uncle Harry congratulating each other on their children's accomplishments. She knew her mother had wished for her to become a prefect. But she had not and she remembered how her mother had been very surprised and a bit disappointed "But you're the brightest student in your year" she had said and it was true, Rose was the best student in her year. However she was pretty certain that the reason she had not become prefect was because of her temper. She constantly tried to control it but often she just could not. Although she knew it was silly she had been a little jealous of Hugo when he had become a prefect. She knew her mother was proud of her grades and she did not really want to be a prefect. But still she could not help but sometimes wish she had been a prefect too, or perhaps been in the quiddich team like her father had and Harry had been and like Ginny and Hugo was now.

As all the kids had climbed on the train Draco Malfoy walked past with his wife and his son Scorpius. He nodded curtly at the party, his wife smiled warmly and Scorpius just walked on; Rose watched the blond briefly and said her last goodbye to her parents. Ron pulled her in for one last tight hug. "Take care, okay? I don't care that this is your sixth year, you're still my little girl and I love you". As Rose mounted the train she felt the excitement build up, even though her father might se her as his little girl she felt a lot more grown up.

There was no mistaking the laugh which played through the corridor outside the compartment, and Rose felt her face light up with joy. It was Edna's pearly laugh and she was one of Rose's closest friends. Unfortunately however Edna had been placed into Hufflepuff, which meant they didn't have all their classes together and their all night girl chitchats had been reduced to the times when they had been able to sneak into the room of requirements for the night. Rose got up from her seat and looked out through the open door to wave Edna over and it was not long before the whole compartment was bussing with chatter. Miranda another close friend of both Edna and Rose had swooped into the compartment along with Edna, and the three girls were catching up after spending the summer apart. Miranda and Rose were both in Gryffindor but that was where the likeliness ended. Rose was rather short, pale, freckled and short in temper. Miranda was tall, dark skinned with raven coloured hair and a temper like a saint. At the moment she was telling them an amusing story about a guy she'd met whilst visiting her grandmother in Italy. He had been typically Italian, and there were a lot of giggling and gaping in between the retelling of his fruitless attempts to seduce the mildly impressed Italian-Moroccan Miranda. Edna had spent the summer mostly at her summerhouse in the south playing quidditch with her older brother and younger sister and the new neighbours. "and you know she's actually in our year, you know Caitlyn Blythe from Slytherin, well her family has brought the house right across the field from ours so we've become really good friends and I know you will love her! We actually decided on meeting at the back of the train…" she trailed of and stood, "I'll go fetch her and we can continue the catching up." "Ok, just hurry up will you!" Rose called after her. Miranda turned to Rose with a; what about your summer. And much to her dismay, Rose felt her face blushing as she answered. "Well I actually took a dance class." She looked up to se Miranda's reaction, she had her eyebrows raised but didn't at all look like she thought it was silly. "What kind of dance?" "Argentinean tango…" Miranda chuckled and said something about the hot tango fitting the hot tempered as the door burst open and Edna came in, in her tracks were Caitlyn and two boys. Edna and Caitlyn were about the same height, which meant both being slightly taller than Rose. But Rose's eyes did not stay at the pretty Caitlyn long before she saw who was behind her, it was some bloke who seemed to be Caitlyn's boyfriend and then there were Scorpius Malfoy. He caught Rose eye, his eyes were coldly grey and his face had a board look upon it, Rose stared back, refusing to give in to the cowardly wish to avoid his gaze. And then he turned to introduce himself to Miranda, suddenly his eyes glittered with charm and a smile made his features soften up. Rose and Scorpius had never been enemies nor had they ever been friends. They had chosen to simply ignore each other and stay out of the other's way. Since they were in the same year they had had classes together but Rose could not remember talking to Scorpius once. They were Malfoy and Weasley, they did not mix. Also since both considered the other unworthy of their time and since they both were sure the other would start a war at the first contact none of them had bothered to try and befriend the other.

Malfoy and the other boy, Nathan Robins only stayed for half an hour. As they finally left Rose could relax again, She had never felt comfortable near Malfoy. For some reason he just kept bugging her, and she felt relived to at last let her guard down. With Malfoy near she would always have to be ready with a sarcastic retort. When Malfoy and Robins finally excused themselves, Rose could start relaxing and try to get to know Caitlyn. Caitlyn spent the whole of the trip with the three girls and as Edna had foreseen, she easily won the liking of both Miranda and Rose.

Most of the trip was spent discussing qudditch since all girls except Rose had a great interested in the sport. Even though Rose liked to watch occasionally she herself was unable to stay on a broom for more than 2 minutes. When Miranda abruptly changed the subject back to the summer Rose was not completely prepared to discuss her dance lessons. She felt more than slightly embarrassed and Edna who had not heard this earlier just gaped at her. "You danced Argentinean tango? Wow" Edna looked a bit sceptic but Caitlyn seemed genuinely interested. "I have always wanted to learn how to dance. The tango must be perfect for you, I mean with your temper and all." Rose felt her face heat up, Miranda was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe at Caitlyn's words. "I….I.. I said the…, the exact same th…ing" Miranda squeezed out between laughs. And as both Edna and Caitlyn broke in to laugh as well she could not help but laugh at herself. When the laughing had settled Miranda turned to Rose "you have to show us sometime! You know, dance for us." Rose felt her ears redden a bit but she smiled "Yeah that would be fun but I can't dance without a partner…" "I think Scorpius knows how to dance tango. He uses to complain about how his grandmother and mother have forced him to learn all kinds of dances…" As she saw Roses darkened look Caitlyn stooped talking and bit her lip. However, Edna quickly changed the subject and all thoughts Rose had had about being forced to dance with Scorpius were forgotten.


	2. Chapter 2

It was amazing really how fast you fell into the usual rhythm

It was amazing really how fast you fell into the usual rhythm. One week had passed and it already felt like she had never been away from Hogwarts. But some things had changed, they were no longer a trio who got together in the library to study and who spent the lunches out in the last summer sun, now they were four girls, Caitlyn had become a part of their gang and sometimes she brought Nathan and Scorpius along too. Nathan was actually a nice guy and he had rather easily managed to win Rose's friendship. However, Scorpius and Rose had not managed to create anything that could even resemblance a friendship, though they had created a kind of competition or a game. It was a game in sarcasm and ignorance and while their fiends watched with growing amusement and alarm, they challenged each others patience and temper. They were constantly testing each other and trying to make the other one snap, after two months of this you could easily cut through the tension with a knife whenever the two of them were in the same room. When one of them finally snapped it would not be pretty.

The summer heat seemed to have disappeared as soon as September and school started, it was a Wednesday and Slytherin and Gryffindor had a double potions class together. They were a rather small class since not every one had chosen to continue with the subject. Because Miranda had been rather bad at potions she had decided to jump out of that class while Rose had continued. Along with Rose, only four other Gryffindors had decided to go on with potions. Aileen; a quiet girl whom Rose had never become friends with, Albus; Rose's cousin and the son of Harry Potter, Simon; a ambitious prefect who everybody knew had a thing for Rose, and Jason, a good-looking guy who played in the quidditchteam. He was what every girl whised for but unfortunately for them he was gay and he had come out of the closet a long time ago. When Rose and Caitlyn entered the classroom most of the other students were already there, they took a seat at the same table as Albus and Jason who were discussing quidditch. It felt good to finally set down the heavy bag. "Hi, Rosie! Everything okay?" Al and Rose had always been good friends but lately they had grown apart a bit. Albus did not really have time for much else except for quidditch nowadays. "Yeah, I'm find, you? Oh and could you ask Lily to give me back that book she borrowed from me this summer, Caitlyn here wants to read it." Caitlyn smiled one of her very innocent smiles and offered her hand to Jason and Al. "Caitlyn Blythe. Nice to meet you." As Al shook her hand his eyes narrowed "Hey, you're the new Slytherin seeker aren't you?" Caitlyn nodded shyly and batted her eyelashes at him "Yes, I just hope I will do good, I've seen you play and you're just amazing…" Rose bit her lip not to laugh at Al. He straightened his shoulders and tried to look nonchalant, being flattered by Caitlyn who could make almost any guy fall in love with her really got to his head. He reminded Rose of a peacock with an oversized ego. They all hurried to sit down and be quiet when the potions professor entered the room. The professor was named Miss Garnet and she was a wonderful teacher. This lesson they were to pair-up and make a potion together. Miss Garnet said this would help since the potions they were to make this year were a bit different from the ones they had done earlier years. After a few weeks of working in pairs it would be back to working separately again. Rose and Caitlyn paired-up. "You were flirting with Al? What about Nathan?" Rose had been surprised to see how Caitlyn had so openly flirted with her cousin. "Of course I did, if I get him to think I'm only a stupid bimbo he'll be an easy match on the pitch. Nathan will have to stand it, I mean it's for the house after all" She whispered conspiringly, with a devilish smile, then she suddenly seemed a bit uncertain "You won't tell Al about my plan will you, I know his your cousin…." "Don't worry, I don't care about quidditch, but the one you should really set in place is James, that's Al's older brother, you probably know that. Any way someone needs to get him down from his high horse."

The class passed quickly with Rose and Caitlyn talking about everything but the fact that Sorpius was in the class too irritated her, earlier they had just avoided each other but now he came up to them at times talking a bit with Caitlyn and giving Rose a mocking comment she had a sharp tongue and was quick with a retort. When the bell rang they gathered their things and hurried of to their next class. "See you later Rosie, bye Al" Caitlyn headed of to her next class along with Scorpius while Rose went along with Al.

The days passed by and at breakfast Rose would sometimes sit at the Gryffindor table, sometimes at the Slytherin table with Caitlyn and Nathan, who looked almost irritatingly cute together and sometimes she would sit at the Hufflepuff table with Edna. All the girls would move around but this morning Rose just felt like having her breakfast in solitude, so even though she saw the others sitting together at the Hufflepuff table, she didn't go over there. Partly this was because Scorpius was there and she did not feel up to fighting with him not right now, yesterday she had gotten back the grade on an essay in ancient runes and it had not been as good as she had hoped for and of course her mother had imedeatly when getting her news asked why she had not had a top grade. Did she perhaps want some help? Rose had not really cared about the essay as much as she should have, the truth was she had been so angry at Scorpius and a nasty comment about her hair that she hade not been able to concentrate on the essay. She had had a particular bad hair-day and on top of that Peeves had dropped a water balloon straight in her head on her way to her charms class. She poured some juice into her glass and was just about to drink it when Scorpius came over and sat down opposite her. "Looking tired weasel, had a bad dream, or did you just look into the mirror this morning?" Rose took a deep breath and tried to ignore that her cheeks and ears flushed. She put her glass down and looked up to meet his eyes. It was always difficult to meet his gaze but she would not give him the satisfaction to sit silently. "I'm having a bad day, if you don't get out of my sight I will throw this over you, she held up her glass again warningly. "Now, now what a pitiable little weasel." She hated when he did that more than anything else. She was small, she had a petite form and was used to being teased about her size, she could take that, but not from him. Scorpius was one of the tallest but he was a lot taller than her and since he knew how much it irritated her he would take every chance to pat her head. Nevertheless he did not dare to stay longer when he saw her take a better grab around the the glass and with a smirk he strolled of.

Not two minutes later Hugo her little brother was at her side. "Rosie I really think you should try to cheer up, your making mum worried. She's heard from Ginny that you're really edgy and she wants you to apologise to Lily. You could do that tonight." Hugo was really nice and caring but Rose felt her irritation overwhelming her. "What do you mean I have to apologise I haven't said anything mean to Lily!" "Calm down Rosie, it wasn't anything you said to her it's that you refuse to help her with her ancient runes and really Rosie, you know I have much to do with prefect duties and the match against Gryffindor coming up." "Not wants to help her? she hasen't asked for help, she wants me to _correct_ her bloody essay for her, which basically means rewrite it and you know I have a lot on my mind too?!" She stood up and walked over to the Hufflepuff table.

"For just once in my life it would be nice to be able to do whatever I want, I'm so fucking tiered of this, seriously you know Lily have written to her mother because I did not have time to WRITE her essay FOR her. And now Ginny has written to my mother that I refuse to "HELP" her. _Rosie you have to help Lily out, you know she has a lot with being a PREFECT and all_. The sorting hat must have been mad when it placed her in Ravenclaw." The small tone of bitterness was easily detected and Scorpius felt an itch sympathy for her, she had been looking really tiered for the past weeks. No one said anything while Rose talked. She let out a deep sigh. For once Scorpius did not mock her he just watched her, the pale skin under her eyes was a bit darker than usually. And the spark in her eyes seemed to have gone out. "Sorry for being whiny…" "Hey, that's okey, you look a bit tiered Rosie" Miranda patted her lightly on the shoulder. Rose pressed her palms against her eyes while she took a deep inhaled deeply and than breathed out. She started to walk off; Lily's essay was due till tomorrow, if she hurried she could write some before her first class started.

"Hey, Lily here is your essay. And I want you to stop writing to Ginny that I refuse to "help" you, I don't have time to do your work too. Anyways it is not like you, the essay you asked me to correct was really lousy." As Lily took the scroll Rose handed her she did actually have the good sense to look ashamed. "I'm really sorry Rosie. I won't do it again; you don't know how tough it can be being a prefect." Rose felt the sting again, the reminder that she had not managed to become a prefect as her mother had hoped. She tried to push the feeling away, she could be proud of herself, of her grades. Still she sometimes felt like she was not enough, sure she was the brightest in her year but she wasn't good at anything else. She wasn't beautiful; at the very most she could be called pretty but not someone people would turn around to look at. No, she decided, she was not going to think like that, hauling up the heavy bag on her shoulder she hurried of towards her next class. It was impossible to be angry at Lily and she had actually promised Lily to help her with ancient runes, the only question was why Lily suddenly did lousy in a class.

Things like this happened from time to time, being the brightest meant Rose was supposed to help her younger cousins and Hugo. Lily just happened to know exactly how to use their mothers close relationship to get her "help" even when Rose did not have time.


	3. Chapter 3

Caitlyn, Edna, Scorpius and Rose had met up in the kitchen to study but for some reason the subject had turned to a strange and repulsive animal called the blastededscrewt

Caitlyn, Edna, Scorpius and Rose had met up in the kitchen to study but for some reason the subject had turned to a strange and repulsive animal called the blastededscrewt. "Yes of course **you** would never have a problem with a blastendedscrewt, being the poisonous scorpion you are it must be easy for you to relate to them." Her voice was sweet as sugar. "That was a low one weasel, but then you always seem to be aiming under the belt…" there was no mistaking the insinuation in the meaning and Rose felt her cheeks grow hot and her ears go pink. She had never been easy footed or a tease and those words made her want to slap him. She had her fathers temper and after two months of keeping it in she felt like she was about to explode. All eyes were upon her, she could feel how they just waited for her to lose control. And she almost did, she had stood up but with what was probably her last drop of self-control she smiled again. Turning to all except Scorpius she said she better head back to Gryffindor tower. She gathered her stuff, making sure it didn't look as though she was trying to get out of there as fast as possible. She realised only once she had finished it had been a stupid idea cause Scorpius had decided to leave too. She had to get away from him, Rose realised that, or she would probably snap, that was what he wanted and she hated the thought of him having his way. She hurried of along the corridors trying to be quiet, it was late and students were supposed to be in their dorms by now. He easily caught up with her. "Leave, Malfoy" she was on the very edge of cursing him now, she was tired and truly sick of always being on her guard around him. He did not react to her cold tone nor did he obey. As Scorpius spoke his voice sounded stained with annoyance "Weasel, I want to talk wi.." Rose had turned around and aimed moreover Scorpius barely had time to avoid being hit by the curse. He was also mad, she saw that now, even though she herself was blinded by rage. Rose aimed again, Scorpius saw her raise her wand, this time she would hit him if he did not do anything but he did not have time to reach for his own wand, instead he launched himself at her and tackled her to the floor. The stone floor was hard and cold, Rose hit her head but due to her anger she refused to give up the fight. While Scorpius took a hold on her wrists and bent away her wand she tried to break out of his grip. "LET GO OF ME!! You fucking insolent…" "Shut up, you'll draw attention to us." Rose was screaming and wriggling like crazy, it was impossible for Scorpius to talk her into quieting down and in frustration he quieted her in the only way he could think of while holding Rose's wrists with both of his hands. The shock made her quiet and she froze like she had been paralyzed, he had pressed his lips over hers to stop her from screaming, Rose could feel her heart race and the dizziness from where she hit her head setting in. As he kissed her, he felt Rose suddenly stop moving he took the chance to switch his grip on her wrists so that he had one hand free, thinking he could hold the now free hand over her mouth, yet he did not break the harsh kiss. However, an unexpected sound of running footsteps made him break the kiss with a low swearing. "Get up" it was an order but he didn't wait for Rose to obey, instead he yanked her up on her feet and started running with a firm hold on her arm. They were running fast, Scorpius was the one who led the way and he took Rose with him down towards the dungeons, as they took a turn to the left Rose found that Scorpius had taken them into a dead end. Panicked and frustrated she was just about to ask him what the hell he had done when she saw him tap the wall and a slim door opened. "get in" once again Scorpius didn't wait for her to obey the order but simply pushed her inside and followed, the door closed soundlessly behind them and just a moment later they heard footsteps which came to a halt and then continued but became more and more distant.

The atmosphere in the room was to say the least tensed. Rose felt angry and shocked but the fire had burned out, left was only a heated and controlled anger. This person, this bloody Malfoy had dared to knock her to the ground, almost had them caught, then he had kissed her, he had pressed his poisonous scorpion lips against hers, he had given her orders and he had hauled and pushed her around and into this room. Whenever Scorpius watched Rose his eyes would be cold and nonchalant but not this time, as they stared at each other his eyes reflected more and stronger feelings than Rose had ever seen in any one's eyes. And the feelings they reflected was flaming anger. "Don't you ever dare to touch me again" Her voice were cold, low and more collected than it had ever been before. Scorpius smirked a little. "I will not mess with you as long as you will not inconvenience me; I suggest a cease of fire. Do we have a deal Malfoy?" "That was actually what I was going to say, right before you attacked me that is." And it was true he thought to himself, he had wanted to end the constant war, he had been sick and tired of it, but now he wasn't so sure of it any more. "Deal"


	4. Chapter 4

It was a cool, frosty day in November, the amount of people out in the yard was scarce due to the sudden cold and the fact that it was rather late but a group of four was out

It was a cool, frosty day in November, the amount of people out in the yard was scarce due to the sudden cold and the fact that it was rather late but a group of four was out. Edna, Miranda, Caitlyn and Nathan wandered the grounds while discussing today's bizarre events. "It's more likely that hell freeze over than Rosie and Scorpius actually being polite to each other" Nathan gave a short laugh at Miranda's words. "Somehow this is scarier than when they just mocked and one another, I mean at least they seemed to have some feeling towards the other, now it like they're just… I don't know really, at first I meant to say cold but that's not right either, it' just nothing, no liking no disliking, nothing at all!" Caitlyn took a short brake in her ramblings "I mean it's impossible to go from despising someone to feeling just nothing, it's not humanly possible to do that over a night!" "Well that's it then, they aren't human" Edna said sarcastically, the joke earned a few laughs and they walked on. "Miranda, don't you know anything, you're in her house, did you not notice anything when she got back?" Miranda shook her head at Caitlyn "No, I came back from qudditch practice at ten and when I fell asleep at half past eleven she had not yet come back." "Nathan looked puzzled "They were the first to leave, they left at half past ten, what the hell did they do for an hour?" No one answered the question. "Can't you try to talk to Scorpius, Nathan?" "Why don't you talk to Rosie instead, we don't really talk like you guys do, unlike girls we have a sense of what's private." "Hey!" Edna and Caitlyn both looked at him with mixed astonishment and fury. "Oh, come on you guys, he's right" Miranda let out a groan and rolled her eyes. "Though I don't think Rosie would take it very good if we tried to put our noses in this, she has a horrible temper and when it comes to Scorpius she tends to become kind of, you know" "Yeah, trust me I know." Edna replied and Caitlyn nodded.

"Look, aren't you guys happy?! We have stooped snapping at each other, that's what you wanted!" Edna took a deep sighed, as they had expected Rose had started to blaze up the moment they had mentioned Scorpius. As none of them had the courage to talk to Rosie alone about Him, they had decided to do it together and at a time when Rose would be relaxed and in a good mood. It was the first Hogsmead-weekend of the year and Rose had been in a brilliant mood all morning that changed however at the mention of his name. "Ohh, look, those shoes are really pretty, maybe I need new ones. Come on" The shoe-shop had just been a way to avoid talking about Scorpius but once Rose tried on the beautiful high-heeled shoes in deep turquoise suede she fell in love and she walked out of the shop with her new shoes in a bag. The others had laughed quite a bit at the look on Rose's face when she put on the shoe and stood there walked around. "But when are you going to wear them?" Miranda never wore high-heeled shoes and could not understand how anyone could possibly fall in love with a pair of shoes. A thought had suddenly crossed Caitlyn's mind, it was perhaps not a thought Rose would have appreciated but after all, she was not a Slytherin for nothing. "She can have them when she dance that tango!" "Exactly! See I really need these shoes." As Rose made a pirouette and danced along infront of them Miranda looked puzzled and when she stated the small problem that Rose did not have a partner Caitlyn explained her little plan with a sly smile. A slight groan was heard from Edna and she mumbled how very dead they would be but it did not take long before she laughed along with the others with her pearly laugh.

Hogsmead was a beautiful town, Rose loved it here and especially during the winter and as they walked along the streets the first snow of the year began to slowly fall towards the ground. This felt so good, Rose had not realised how tensed she had been and for the first time in probably three weeks she felt truly happy and content with herself and the world. Everything had been great, when she got up this morning to take a shower she had not felt tiered, she had had a great hair-day, walking along the streets of Hogsmead with her friends had been great, these beautiful shoes… everything. With Miranda leading the way they headed for Madame Rosmerta's, she wasn't the one who had the pub anymore but since she had been so well-liked amongst her costumers the new owner had named it after her. Of course it the pub was almost full, Nathan was with Scorpius already and Caitlyn hurried to him, she was rewarded with a soft kiss on the lips and she took a seat beside him while holding his hand. Scorpius went to get drinks and the girls sat down, just as Miranda was to sit down on the bench Caitlyn grabbed her sleeve and pulled her towards her Edna immediately realised what Caitlyn was up to and sat down in the end of the other bench so that Rose would be forced to sit beside Scorpius. "Come and sit Rosie" she said as she patted the place beside her. Caitlyn's plan was that if Rose and Scorpius were forced to hangout together they could either get back to how it had been before, when they tried to crack the other or it would at least be possible to see what had caused the sudden change. Scorpius came back, with bottles of butterbeer floating in front of him, but he had a coup in one of his hands too, which he set down in front of Rose. Rose could feel all the eyes upon her as she took the coup and tasted the steaming liquid in it, once she felt the taste she froze. How could he know she liked her buttereer hot and with a bit of ginger added? She looked at him sideways, pushing the hair out of her eyes with one hand and watching his profile. He was really good-looking with his straight nose and strong chin, he sat a bit leaned back and his with blonde hair fell down in his grey eyes. "How did you know I like my butterbeer hot with ginger in it?" He shrugged his shoulders he still wasn't looking at her and when he turned to her his eyes held something she had never seen in them before, however she could not place it. "Hot like your temper and ginger like your hair" she had not been prepared, and she felt how her jaw dropped. What about the deal? Then again she was not sure if that had been an isult but as it came from Malfoy it must have been. He saw the question in her eyes and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Weasel you should close your mouth…" Even though the others acted like they did not notice anything Rose knew they were all trying their best to overhear the conversation. "Malfoy, my hair is not ginger, you need an eye check" was all she answered him before sipping on her favourite drink which he had given her. Trough the corner of his eye Scorpius observed the petite girl at his side, for some reason he had been thinking about her over the last days and it was starting to irritate him, the two of them were born to be enemies. Even though his father had never said anything about her or her family Scorpius knew it would be a hard blow to Draco if his son had a relationship with his school enemy. Scorpius had a rather certain feeling that, despite Draco's speech about how you should always choose your own path and choose your friends with your heart, this did not apply to Rose Weasley.

It had to be his imagination, Nathan thought as he looked at his friend. The picture of Rose blushing as she tried to hide her face behind the coup could not possibly bee what had brought a smile to Scorpius lips.


	5. Chapter 5

Rose and Miranda had been walking hurriedly and sat down on either side of Edna just as the professor walked into the room

Rose and Miranda had been walking hurriedly and sat down on either side of Edna just as the professor walked into the room. Professor Trent was the youngest among the teachers and he was also the strictest, you would have thought he was to be friendly given that the difference of age was rather small. Nonetheless he had only smiled once at Rose, and it had been in the end of last year when she had preformed a perfect illusion charm. The class started and as soon as opportunity was given Rose did the muffliato-spell so they could start chatting.

Two days later the snow was thick on the ground and in only a few days the first quidditch game was to take place. The game was between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor which meant Hugo, Al, James and Miranda were all very edgy; Rose's good mood however had come back. The tension had become more and more hostile and when it got to much Rose would just say goodbye and go out for a walk. She had just returned from one of this walks as it had darkened. From the pitch she heard arguing voices, her curiosity won and she went over to see who was fighting and over what. It was a small Ravenclaw girl, Rose recognised her as a first-year, and then there was two guys from the Slytherin team and they were in the same year as Rose. The little girl was crying and screaming in a high-pitched voice in between her sobs. One of the Slytherin guys was mocking the little girl and she flung herself at him in a pointless attempt to push him away.

"Hey! What are you doing? Leave her alone" half running Rose hurried to the little girl's side "What happened? Why are you crying?" The sobs became harder and it was impossible make out any word of her tear-drenched speech. With a shaking hand she pointed at the bys and then at a high tree nearby, Rose looked at the tree and understood what had happened, from one of the branches hang a teddy bear. "Don't worry; they are going to get your teddy down here for you." With her best Hermione stare she looked at the Slythrins. "Now hurry up and bring it down." They just gave her a sneer "You can't order me around" The slightly smaller one smirked and said she could get it down herself. "oh, but that's right, you can't fly." That was two much for Rose, "ACCIO BROOM!" She pointed at the boy's broom and it zoomed out of his hand and into hers. She mounted it and kicked of into the air before the guy even had time to react, from below she could hear him scream and then another voice who asked what the hell was going on. It was Scorpius' voice; she could hear him swearing loudly and looked down. A very stupid thing to do. Rose was terrified of height and in the same moment she looked down she felt how the panic washed through her veins. She was petrified, her knuckles were white from grabbing the handle and she felt like she was about to faint. It had only passed seconds but it felt like an eternity to Rose. Scourpius had kicked into the air and flied towards Rose. "Straighten up the broom!!" She heard the words but she couldn't act, all she saw was the ground which seemed to close in on her. "Weasley!!" A hand grabbed the broom handle.

Scorpius had never seen her like this before, she never seemed scared and now she was trembling like a paralyzed rabbit. With all the strength he could muster, he steered both brooms down towards the ground. It was difficult to handle two brooms at the same time, especially when one of them was ridden by a paralyzed redhead. Even so he managed to get them both down to the ground even if the landing was not very graceful. Her knees seemed unable to hold her up and she sank down in the cold snow. "YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!! You could have KILLED her!!" Scourpius was furious, and his two team mates tried to make themselves as small as possible in front of his fury. "Now go get her teddy down!" They nodded vigorously while trying to explain at the same time. Scorpius just waves their words away and turned to Rose, the dry sobbing had stopped and she stood up, her face was pale as the snow and held no expression also she still trembled lightly. "Thank you…" it was barley a whisper. "Are you okay?" she nodded, her eyes were directed to him but they were unseeing. With a shaky breath Rose took two steps in the direction of the castle.

Scourpius picked up his bag and as he stood he saw her loose balance and fall. He caught her just as she was about to fall face down in the snow and he got down on his knees with her in his lap. Obviously she had fainted, with a soft swearing he hauled her up in his arms and started to walk back into the warmth of the castle.

There had been a pleasant scent in her nostrils as she woke up, she had stirred slightly and her disoriented mind had taken its time to realise that Scorpius was carrying her in his arms. When she stirred he looked down on her, his jaw was set which made her feel uneasy. Weakly she tried to say he could let her down but he just lifted his eyebrows giving her a look she couldn't quite read. He carried her all the way to the big oak door where he set her down and pushed the door open. With her eyes lowered she stepped inside, she heard him close the door and turned around to thank him once again, this time with her chin raised, ready to take the fight. But he did not even look at her instead he started to walk across the hallway. "Come on, hurry up." "What?!" the feeling of not really being in control of was buzzing inside of Rose's head like a fly you just could not get at. Rose hated this, he wasn't acting as he should and was certainly not the one with the situation at hand. "We're both cold, you're soaked through and you're still shaking." Rose felt her cheeks and ears turn pink. He was right of course she was shaking but in that moment she wasn't sure if it was only the cold or if it had more to do with the fact that her anger was building up. How dared he! "You think I will go along with anything you want just because you helped me out there, I'm not that easy!" She felt slightly better again, like she had regained some strength along with the rush of temper. "Stop acting like you're a princess, and stop thinking so damn highly about yourself. You could wish for it but I'm not some kind of savage that's out to tarnish your reputation. I'm taking you to the kitchen to have you drink something warm." His cold grey eyes felt piercing and her newfound strength and temper had suddenly disappeared. The anger had been like the wind in her sails and now that it had gone she felt like a ship without course. For a moment she stood without moving and when he called for her to follow one more time she did as he said.

Entering the kitchen was like entering into a warm pair of arms. It reminded Rose of Molly, her grandmother. Scorpius asked one of the elves that rushed to their side to get some hot butterbeer with ginger for "Rose". He had actually used her name and that made her feel somewhat uneasy. Still his tone had not worn any hint of the despise that he would normally use when referring to her. The light from the fire danced over his features and made them slightly softer. His grey eyes looked deeper, in this moment Rose could see into him through them, the barrier had burst and his usually so neutral face seemed to be shadowed and accented with emotions. Rose suddenly felt a new feeling sneak into her system. It was a feeling she had felt many times before but never towards Malfoy. The feeling was gratitude. She got her wand and preformed a simply drying spell first on him and then on himself, it made her feel a little better but the fact that she owed him practically her life was bugging her.

"You're afraid of heights huh?" Scorpius sniggered at the evil look she shot him and instead of answering Rose sipped at her butterbeer. Her attempt at dignity was spoiled by his laugh. This was perhaps the first time she had ever heard him laugh for real. Not in a mocking or taunting way but in a pure way. As Scorpius watched the colour reappear in her face he felt strangely relived. She had a proud face but it showed no trace of her burning temper. Only the brown eyes gave away her restlessness. Her face was not one who called out for attention. If you looked into her eyes you could read her like an open book and what was to read their now was her inconvenience and a flaming will to prove herself.

They sat quietly while Rose sipped on her butterbeer. "Thank you for…" "… saving your life." There wasn't really much to argue with in his statement, nonetheless her eyes still pierced into him. "But I have to say you aren't completely hopeless on a broom." Even though he used a teasing tone there was also some sincerity in his words. Rose wasn't sure how to react on this new mix between mocking and compliment so she just cast down her eyes and tried to ignore him. "Would you fetch a warm sweater and my cloak please?" Scorpius had directed the question to a small elf who instantly obeyed with a cracking noise. "I bet you're too scared to fly ever again now, but on the other hand then I won't have to save your ass again." The reaction was instant, the glowing fire in her eyes raised to flames as if his words were pure fuel. "I have more guts than you will ever get." She snapped a flicker of a smile swept over his face she had taken the bate. "Come on then and show me." Even in the warm kitchen Rose felt a shiver at his silky tone and she knew she had been tricked, she had known it right from the very start but he had blocked her in a corner and no matter how she would have answered he would win. "Now?! Oh come on, it's already past midnight. And with the game coming up don't the quidditch pro need his beauty sleep." Scorpius was standing over her now and smirked down. "Like I thought; too scared." The elf reappeared with the same cracking noise as before. "Thank you" Her voice was soft when she took the cloak and sweater from the elf, however, when she turned around and tossed the cloak over her shoulder it was the opposite of soft. "Come on, oh great flyer, lets get this over with so you will finally be out of my sight." Every word was dripping with sarcasm and Scorpius thought quietly to himself that this girl might even give his dad a run for his money when it came to sarcastic drawling. They made their way out of the castle once again but this time they took care not to cause any sound that might awaken any suspicions.

The clock was striking half past midnight as they sneaked out into the night. It was an almost cloudless night and the cold wind that played with the naked trees made Rose shiver. She put on the sweater under her own cloak to keep warm, to her left Scorpius swept the cloak around his shoulders to keep the cold out. The sweater bore the same scent she had woken up to.


	6. Chapter 6

A nervous feeling with a hint of fear was moving inside Rose as they entered the pitch for the second time this night. "Give me your broom so I can have this over with!" without looking at him she stretched out her hand. It wasn't an act to show her loathing for him but an act to hide her fear from him. "You seriously think I will let you fly alone on my broom?" Regardless of the fact that she tried to hide her fear he saw it. He saw it on her tensed shoulders and heard it in her voice. "Look, the reason I taunted you in to coming hear was so you could get on a broom again, if you don't you will probably be scared to get on a broom again for the rest of your life." She turned towards him and without saying something at first. Her eyes was slightly narrowed. They looked almost completely black though Scorpius could still read her thoughts in them. He mounted the broom and gave her a questioning look. "You want to sit in front of me or behind me?" The hesitation in her made him wonder for a moment if he was out of his mind to believe she would accept his white flag. Nonetheless her features softened and her lips let out a shaky laugh. "I better sit in front of you. If I faint you will be able to hold me on the broom…" He laughed softly at her embarrassed look but he moved back a little so she would have room to sit. When she had climbed onboard he moved up a bit closer to her and took a hold on the broom handle. "Ready?" his voice was so low she would not have heard it if his mouth had not been so close to her ear. She turned slightly towards him to nod but instead she felt her whole body freeze, his breath had tickled her cheek and the feeling had had the same affect as a stunning curse. He said something else but she barley heard him speak. "Sorry?" It was only with great effort that she managed to shake the stunned feeling off and keep her voice from stammering. "You won't fall, just relax." He let go of the broom handle with one hand and instead used it to hold her against him. He kicked of from the ground, the arm around her waist felt strong and the grip felt firm. Then all thoughts of the boy behind her disappeared from her head when she looked down and realised the ground was moving further and further away from her. Suddenly he felt how she tensed against him and heard how her breathing became more rapid and shallower. Most people would have started to talk soothingly and some would have steered the broom down again. Scorpius was not like most people, and despite the fact that Rose looked like a small porcelain doll she was not a girl who would break easily. Scorpius made a sharp turn and Rose caught her breath. _She will calm down eventually_.

It felt like her face was being pierced be hundreds of tiny needles and her eyes watered from the icy wind. She closed them to escape, but instead she was hit by the giddy feeling of flying. He heard how she let out a soft gasp and smiled when she leaned into the wind. He remembered how the feeling of flying had almost made him dizzy at first and could imagine this must be what she felt now. Scorpius made the broom rise in steep circles, Rose's silky locks dashed against the side of his face and neck and the pure laugh of someone who had just tasted freedom played in the wind.

"Wow, I felt like the queen of heaven!" She felt out of breath but happy and she heard how Scorpius laughed. The despised blush crept over her nose bridge and coloured her ears, she felt uneasy with him now as she started to realise she had trembled against him like a scared rabbit and ultimately shared her mind with him; her rival. _I must seem like one of those silly and stupid girls without any brains._ As she turned away to hide the blush from him an impulse made him grab her by the wrist to keep her from turning away. _I can't do this. _The voice in his mind was right but he simply did not care, at least not in this moment. Her big eyes stared into his; her face was calm even though her pulse was beating faster. It felt like she could read his mind as easily as if he had spoken. "If we kiss there'll be no turning back…" "You have already kissed me." The memory of him kissing her to keep her quiet rushed through his mind and in a moment of what his father would call weakness he kissed Rose Weasley. This time she kissed him back, their kiss was not soft or tender. Rose felt like she was trapped in a whirlwind; it was spinning fast and she was pulled along without control. He still held her wrist with one hand; the other hand was tangled in her hair. Scorpius felt her pressing against him; her free hand held a tight grip on his cloak and pulled him closer. As if they were lovers who would never se each other again they kissed with an intense desperation. Slowly the desperation ebbed out, they drew apart and Scorpius could feel Rose's eyes searching his own, he leaned his head back and took a deep breath to avoid looking her in the eye. She took a step back from him, the hand that had gripped his cloak dropped and he realised he still held her wrist. Her sense was starting to come back and she backed away from him, he let go of her wrist and finally looked at her. None of them said anything, they just looked each other strait in the eye, the passion had cooled away. "It was fun flying… …good night Scorpius" she hesitated only slightly before saying his name. Then she turned and walked off towards the castle. Never before had he heard her take his name in her mouth. She did not pronounce it differently than any one else but still it sounded different in some way coming from her. "Come here on Friday around midnight and we'll fly again." She had stooped and turned around, she seemed to be considering the invitation and Scorpius half wished she would say no; _it would make it all easier_. "Okay"

Rose was walking quietly through the corridor; she forced herself to stay calm and to not think at all. _What have I done? _The question kept appearing in her head. _Why? _The corridor in which she walked was dark and abandoned and on the left side there were several doors that led to classrooms. She had taken a detour to keep away from the corridors which were most often patrolled. As Rose passed by one of the classrooms she saw a flash of bright red in the lighting of a wand and she was so shocked by what she saw next she forgot about not drawing any attention to herself. Lily, her younger cousin was half laid down on a bench while a dark-haired boy was leaning over her. They were kissing and Rose saw how the boy's hand slowly moved up from her waist towards her breasts. "Lily!" She called out sharply and burst in to the room. The boy jumped back with a scared look on his face. Lily quickly pressed her knees tighter together and tried to sit up. She stared at Rose with a terrified look her lips were shaking faintly. Rose looked between the two. "Let's go Lily. And you better run back to the Hufflepuff dorm immediately." The boy gave Lily a scared look but she was looking straight down at the floor. "_Now!_" Rose's snap made him move and he quickly hurried out like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. "So this is the reason you suddenly write awful essays."

Rose had walked a mortified and angry Lily back to the Ravenclaw tower. Lily had yelled at Rose for interrupting and driving Jasper away, sworn that it had not been what it seemed like, begged her not to tell Harry or Ginny and cried that Rose could never understand what she and Jasper had. Rose just shoved her ahead with a stern face. They came to a halt outside Ravenclaw's entrance and Lily had almost dissolved into tears as by then and Rose felt enough pity for her to promise her she would not tell on her. "You do realise Harry would want to through him into Azkaban if he had seen or heard about that, and I'm not sure your mother will try to calm him like she usually does." "Yeah I know but really Rose I swear we was not going to, you know. Really, I want to wait and Jasper wants to wait too." Rose raised an eyebrow. Lily was about to start protesting but Rose cut her off. "I believe you Lily. Just promise me to take care of yourself." Lily nodded and Rose gave her a hug. Lily was only a year younger then herself but right now Lily looked several years younger. "Is this why your ancient runes essay was such crap?" Lily blushed furiously and nodded faintly again. Then she narrowed her eyes at Rose "Why are you out, it's way past midnight?" Rose felt her face turn white. She could never tell Lily that she had been with Scorpius Malfoy. It was painfully evident even to herself that the explanation about a stroll to get inspiration on an essay was a lie. However, Lily chose not to comment on it, probably due to the fact that Rose had the upper hand for now. If she pressed Rose, it would most likely be worst for herself.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a cloudy morning when Rose woke up with a headache which only grew worse when she thought of the night before

It was a cloudy morning when Rose woke up with a headache which only grew worse when she thought of the night before. As she dragged herself out of bed and went down for breakfast she felt in great need of some really strong tranquilizers. She cast a nervous glance at the Slytherine table before sitting down with Edna and Miranda at the Gryffindor table. They greeted her as usual but Rose still felt uneasy, uncertain on how to tackle this new situation she had gotten herself in and uncertain if she should at all discuss it with her friends. _What the hell was I thinking?_ "You came back rather late didn't you?" Miranda eyed Rose's uncommonly pale face and red, vaguely puffy eyes. Caitlyn joined them with a happy sight before Rose had any time to answer; the disruption was a relief to Rose who had not yet thought about an excuse for her uncharacteristic behaviour. "You look like shit!" Caitlyn said this with a big smile and grabbed some toast. "And you sound awfully cheerful." Rose grunted and gave Caitlyn her most evil glare which Caitlyn gleefully ignored. "How come you're so happy?" Edna cut in. "Well it's soon Christmas vacation and my Parents just sent their permission for me to bring Nathan to stay with us for a few days!" The last bit was said in a rather high-pitched and excited voice while Caitlyn waved, what supposedly was a letter, with much eager. The conversation immediately focused on the great news and Rose tried her best not to seem anxious.

When Scorpius entered the great hall she almost choked on her coffee. He was walking with Nathan and when Caitlyn saw this she jumped up and hurried off to meet up with them. Nathan lightened up at the sight of her, he gave her a hug and they could se how she was almost bursting with excitement while telling him about her parents' letter. Both Edna and Miranda were watching the couple but Rose instead looked at Scorpius. He was looking only a tad bit tiered and he seemed totally calm. His calmness taunted her as she felt the complete opposite. Their eyes met and Rose could she a hint of restlessness in his; his calmness was not genuine but he did not with a single twitch show that they had shared the previous night together more "friendly" than they should have. _It was a really stupid mistake. _The group moved towards the Gryffindor table to gather with the three girls sitting there. Everyone said "Good morning" to each other and then they sat down and grabbed breakfast, no one noticed any unusual manners from neither Rose nor Scorpius. For the moment Rose felt safe, Scorpius would barely start on the subject with everyone else here. Nonetheless Rose feared the moment when they would be alone and talk about what they had done. She had no idea of what she would say and even though she was a supposedly brave Gryffindor she just wanted to ignore her actions and pretend like it had never happened. The breakfast felt endless while Rose sat there and tried to eat even though she was nauseous, she just waited for Scorpius to discreetly signal that they should talk. However he never did, Rose waited in vain and she felt herself tense more and more the longer she waited. Miranda suddenly stood up with a yelp; she had cast an eye on the time and realized they would soon be late. Without any further ceremonies she grabbed Rose by the wrist and rushed out of the great hall. They ran all the way to their charms classroom and the whole time Miranda kept talking about how Rose would always have an eye on the time; "You always say when we have to go!" She kept shouting over and over again.

After lunch the weather had greyed even more. Rose who had started to feel hungry but who did not feel like going to the great hall again, sneaked away to the kitchen and got some sandwiches that she ate secretly in the library while finishing the last essay before Christmas break. The day passed ever so slowly and Rose made an effort to focus in her classes. Once during the day Lily had caught her in the corridor and blamed Rose for the fact the Jasper scarcely dared to look at her. But she was only a little mad, before she hurried off to her next class she had given Rose an unexpected hug and thanked her for keeping quiet to Ginny and Harry. At the end of the day Rose was absolutely exhausted and she felt thankful to herself for already finishing her essay though neither Miranda nor Edna had and they talked her into helping them with their last bits. When they were finally done too and were heading back from the library to their dorm Hugo came chasing after her. His face had a panicked look and he talked so fast that Rose barely could make out what he said. When he had finally calmed down enough to make himself understood Rose took a deep sight and turned back to the library. She would probably have to spend another two hours there with Hugo and his astronomy essay.

After only half an hour Rose had realized that Hugo was not going to be at any help, he was way too nervous about tomorrow's game and all he did was keep mumbling words which to Rose sounded like complete nonsense. With only a faint protest from Hugo she had sent him to his dorm with an insurance that the essay would be done by tomorrow morning at breakfast. Rose spent two whole hours on the essay and was even driven out of the library by Miss Fasset who fussed over the dark circles under her eyes and absolutely wanted Rose to go to Madame Pomfrey. Rose hated to be in the hospital wing, partly because she hate being sick but also because Madame Pomfrey would always, without exception, make you drink some awfully disgusting potion. Rose had only been there on a few rare occasions and every time she had been forced to drink something that mostly resembled of mud with the (nearby ancient) Madame Pomfrey watching her like a hawk while she swallowed.

After dodging all of Miss Fasset's concerns and promised that she would go straight to bed she headed back. Her body and mind were both exhausted and when she crawled into her soft and warm bed in the dark she was already half asleep. She out her head on the pillow and was surprised to feel something else than the soft cool cotton against her cheek. She raised herself with one hand while fumbled about over the pillow with the other. The object showed to be a sweater made of cashmere wool. She realized that the house elves must have put it there and to be able to make anything out in the dark she held it closer to her face. As the light trace of his scent filled her nostrils she felt her face heat up. Yesterday she had completely forgotten to return it and without a thought that it belonged to him she had just thrown it on the bed along with her other cloths as she had dived into bed the night before. She buried her nose in the sweater and drew in the scent and remembered last night's flight and the passionate kiss they had shared. The memories made her feel different emotions; a pleasurable dizziness as she remembered how it had been to fly and when she remembered his laugh and his kiss she felt a light sting in the heart. "Bittersweet…" she whispered into the night.


	8. Chapter 8

Scorpius hadn't gotten much sleep the night earlier, his own actions kept replaying themselves in his mind. It had been truly stupid because it could and would never be. He had meant to be friends with her and when he'd seen her on the broom; seen her eyes stare down at him and her face turn white he'd felt fear rush through him. She looked like she was going to faint and she had been high up, to high to make a fall without getting seriously hurt. When they were finally down on the ground again and she was out of danger his fear had been switched for anger. The next couple of hours he had not been himself, perhaps because of her sudden vulnerability he had tried to strengthen her with the flight. It had been stupid but at that moment he had not really cared. Today however he did care, but then again it had only been a kiss. No one needed to know. A voice whispered his own words in his head; _"If we kiss there'll be no turning back…"_and then he heard her voice; _"You have already kissed me." _They could simply forget the kiss. That would be best.

Friday morning was cloudy but without rain or snow, Rose heard someone say that it would clear up during the day when she dragged herself down for breakfast. She went over to the Hufflepuff table first to give Hugo his essay and some sisterly support for the game. All classes had been cancelled for the day due to the quidditch game and only a few students were up at this hour. Almost everyone in the great hall played in either of the quidditch teams and most of them looked nervous and a bit tuned out. When the owl mail came Rose made the family owl that had brought the "Good Luck"-note from their parents to Hugo stay and bring the essay to Hugos teacher. She did not trust that he would remember it in his current state and she was not going to let all of her work be for nothing. With a last pad on her brother's shoulder she went back to Miranda and the Gryffindor table. Al and James were also sitting there but it was only Al that looked nervous. James had a, sometimes, rather annoying self confidence and Miranda were way to calm as a person to let her nerves rule over her. Even though Al's nerves were not as bad as Hugo's they were still very evident. Rose sat down beside Miranda and came face to face with Al. She did her best to lighten up his spirits with her chatting and he seemed a little less tensed as she left to go back to the common room.

Sense she did not care namely which team won as her loyalties could be found in both teams she felt very little of the excitement which filled everyone else. There were still hours to go before the game and she decided to use the time to pamper herself. Long herbal baths was something Rose loved and that she allowed herself once in a while, it was her way to relax and therefore she always had a small bag with herbal salt, lotion, facemasks and hair masks. The bag even contained a glove fore peeling and some nail polish. She went out was already on her way out of the room before she changed her mind and brought a toilet bag with makeup and jar with something to tame her hair. Thinking that it was after all Christmas soon and that it would be fun to feel that she was for once looking her best. She ignored the quick flash of grey eyes and heavy breathing. And defended her own vane with arguments about how she would feel better about herself if she knew she was looking your best. The running water sounded like wonderful music to Rose, she undressed quickly and poured some of the herbal salt in the bath. Before getting into the bath she cast a charm over her mp3 to keep it dry and with the classic music in her ears she slowly lowered herself into the hot water. The scent of roses and mint that she enjoyed so much soothed her sore muscles and her mind. Her thought wandered to the night before yesterday and the mixed emotions came back. She moved restlessly in the bath. What had happened had happened she could not change that and she refused to regret anything she had done. Her father used to say you should not regret anything you did but that you could often bitterly regret things you had not done. Scorpius' words echoed in her mind; _"…no turning back…". _If he was right she would be in big trouble, and he would probably be so too. _But it wasn't like there would ever be anything serious_, she tried to calm herself. It was attraction which came of an unusual situation and perhaps it had been so strong due to the fact that it was forbidden. Rose was not one to usually break the rules but she was not immune to the thrill. The hot water eased her tension and the nervous stinging in her temples faded away. The thoughts that had haunted her since the moment she had left him that night suddenly felt silly. What was done was done and there was nothing she could do about it. _What is he thinking? _The thought hit her out of the blue, she had been unsure whether to meet him or not this night, thinking that it might be best not to lead him on, she realized at this moment that he may not even be there waiting for her tonight. _Why would he bother to be there for my sake, we're not even friends?_

Everyone was there to watch the game, Rose felt a bit lonely in the Gryffindor stand since her cousins and Miranda where down on the ground waiting for the whistle to blow. Rose looked down at her brother, his face had a resolute look and he weighed the big bat in his right hand. Hugo was a great flyer, he never seemed afraid to do the most daring dives or loops; much to Ron's happiness and Hermione's dismay. He played beater and was very good at it.

Miranda was shooting through the air holding the quaffle under one arm straight towards the Hufflepuff goal, but in the last second she had to make a sharp turn to avoid Hugo's well aimed bludger and lost the ball to one of the Hufflepuff chasers. As Rose knew of experience that she would hear if anything worth watching would happen she pulled up a book and began to read, each time the volume started tuning up she put a finger in the book as a mark to show where she was and then looked up at the game. The whole game was even and Hugo had handled his nerves well. When the skinny Hufflepuff seeker suddenly dived and then raised her hand with the tiny golden snitch in her hand the cheering from the Hufflepuff stand was deafening. Rose felt happy as well even though her house had not won, on the other hand she did not look forward to meet James and Miranda, James was a bad looser and Miranda would become withdrawn and impossible to speak with. The only one who could handle a loss was Al. He would of course be sorry for loosing but he had a more relaxed attitude towards competitions and was the one to say things like; "They won fairly, we'll take them next time." Rose hurried down from the stand before anyone else had stood up and ran over the pitch to congratulate Hugo and comfort Miranda.

Since Gryffindor had lost the game, Rose had no problem sneaking out later that evening. Everyone seemed low and James was really mad, he would say over and over again that the judge had been on Hufflepuff's side to anyone that would listen. With Scorpius sweater in a tight grip she tiptoed through the corridors and out to the pitch. Her wristwatch showed it was a little past midnight, whit slightly narrowed eyes to see in the dark she looked around for Scorpius.

He stood in the shadows, leaning against one of the stands when she came. Her auburn locks dance in the light wind and the moonlight made her look even paler than usual. He observed her for a moment, watching as she looked for him and how she hugged herself to keep the cold away. Everyone described her as a strong and independent person but right now she looked very vulnerable. He moved over to her and greeted her with a low voice. She jumped the moment he started moving; like she had been on alert for any sounds. It took her a split second to regain her usual confident expression and posture and she nodded at him as an answer._ Her greatest strength is to hide her vulnerability _Scorpius thought to himself. "You came." Even though it was a statement Rose felt as if he had asked her a difficult question. She shrugged her shoulders and held out the sweater "Well I had this; I figured you want it back." She tossed it at him and he easily caught it with one hand. "Yeah thanks." Both were quit for a moment. "You look tired Weasel; did you have a hard time laying the book down yester night?" As always his words made her eyes glow faintly with irritation but this time she also felt her lips twitch into a smile. Scorpius simply laughed at her and threw his broom to her. She almost dropped it but managed to hold on to it and looked at him with a gaping mouth. "You think I'll get on this thing alone?!" It took him almost ten minutes to make her get on the broom and kick off from the ground and he had to promise her over and over again that she would not fall and that he would be ready with his wand all the time if she, however she would not, fall. This time Rose did not feel confident at all and the wonderful feeling she'd felt had been traded for a luring panic. However she flew, she flew alone and she did not fall. As she finally put her feet on the ground again she was a bit shaky but childishly proud. "You're not used to being bad at anything are you?" Rose heard her own indicated huff at his words but he didn't wear the mockingly smirk and his voice had been soft. Without responding she just watched him, like you'd watch a poisons snake. Just waiting for him to attack. He sighed in an impatient manner, and moved in on her. His strong fingers fingered on one of her locks. "You can't be good at everything the first time you try it. And doesn't it feel kind of good to be really lousy but not as totally lousy as before?" He grinned at her sour face but stooped as she stood on her toes and placed a kiss on his lips, a soft questioning kiss. He stood entirely still, frozen to the ground. "This is madness Rose." "I'm sorry I…" She was cut off by his lips over hers and welcomed the warm feeling of his arms around her. Rose's own arms travelled up to his shoulders and silky hair. As they broke the kiss he continued to hold her and rested his chin on her head. She drew in his scent; the same scent that the sweater she had spent two nights with had worn. "You're right I hate being bad at things, usually I just don't do things I'm not good at." She smiled against his chest but her smile was a somewhat sad one. "What are we doing, we hate each other and…" Her words died away. "Let's not analyze it, we're both aware that it's only a, we could call it fling, it will pass away and no one will ever know." Rose nodded, no one would ever know anything about this, and for now she would just forget all thoughts of who she was and who he was.

They separated in the hallway inside the great door with a simple good night, no silly farewell kisses, no sweet words and no silly declarations of love. Rose hurried back to her dorm and crept into bed silently, Miranda was since long sleeping deeply. The following day was Saturday and due to her late night adventure Rose did not wake up until Miranda, Edna and Caitlyn awoke her in a very kind manner. In other words they stole her blanket, shouted in her ear and used the charm that made her hang upside down in her ankles. "Good morning dear friend! Or maybe we should say Good day!" Edna's voice sounded awfully cheerful and Rose who was still trying to orient herself after the shock of waking up just grunted in response. Edna had taken a place in her soft bed; she sat with her legs crossed and looked up at Rose who still hang upside-down. Miranda stood leaning against the bed poster and she too had her eyes on Rose's form. Caitlyn was seated at the floor right by the bed and with her hands folded under her chin she eyed Rose with a smug smile that was a clear indication as to why she was in Slytherin. Rose was finally coming to life and she also felt her temper coming alive. With curses that would have made Hermione smack her husband for teaching their daughter such languish she glared down at them. "What languish! Now please Rose, don't get so upset." The calm voice of Miranda tried to reason with the upset redhead, her words did not have any effect what so ever and Rose just continued her swearing and cursing. "Rose there is something you have been keeping from us. Like the fact why you sneak out at night and don't come back until two or three in the morning." Rose froze in the middle of a motion. Her arms dropped towards the floor at Caitlyn's words. Caitlyn only smiled sweetly at her and Rose felt her face go white. "Will you please let me down?" Edna did and Rose fell face-first down on her bed. She muttered a dry 'Thanks' and climbed out of the bed, she got her toilet bag and started to walk out. "Hey! You still have not told us anything" Caitlyn called after her. Rose chose to ignore this and fled to the bathroom where she took a hot and long shower. She would have to come up with a really great excuse to escape from their suspicion. A brilliant thought hit her; she would have Lily to cover for her. The younger cousin owed her big time and it would not be difficult to make her three friends believe that Lily had needed someone to talk to. Rose had not yet told them about how she had walked in on Lily and Jasper but she imagined they'd be satisfied with this kind of juicy information. Then she would simply explain her nightly absence with Lily needing some sisterly chatting. When she was done in the bathroom she hurried off to find Lily.

Lily had agreed to cover for her but the evident interest in her eyes had worried Rose a little. The cousin had demanded to know what Rose so desperately needed to cover up for her best friends. Luckily Lily was still afraid that Rose was to tell Harry and Rose implied that she would if Lily did not help her without questions. At lunch she had presented the story about Lily and the boy to her friends and they had all bought it. To make the performance all the more trustworthy Rose had acted as if she was reluctant to spill her younger cousin's secret. It was a surprise even to herself how easily she lied to her friends.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The Christmas break had come and Rose stood on the platform in the heavy snowfall and waited for the train along with all of her cousins and her brother. They were all chatting and when the train finally arrived all students stormed onboard to flee the wet snow. Rose had missed her family of course but this time she did not feel all that happy to go home. She caught a glimpse of silver blonde hair and knew she would have to lie to her whole family, coldness hugged her heart but she continued to smile at Lily and agreed with her when she said it would be nice to come home again. As all of them had finally squeezed into a compartment someone suggested they'd play some chess and Rose willingly agreed, she had not only inherited her fathers hot temper but also his talent for chess even though she her father still managed to beat her almost every time. It was tradition for the Weasleys and Potters to share a compartment on there way home for Christmas and it had also become a tradition over the years to have some sort of tournament; sometimes they'd play exploding snap and sometimes they'd have a chocolate-frog eating tournament. Not very surprisingly Rose had won, the time had passed quickly and there was only about half an hour left of the train ride. Rose excused herself and went out of the apartment to freshen up and say goodbye to her friends. She found them rather quickly in a compartment in which a candy war seemed to have taken place. Rose raised her eyebrows at the sight and grinned slightly. She stayed and talked to them for a few moments and told them about her victory. Scorpius chuckled at her and said in a mocking tone that he wasn't surprised at all the way she would over analyze everything must make anyone give up rather than be bored to death. The fire in her eyes was alit in a matter of seconds and she gave him a flaming glare. "When we get back after Christmas I challenge you to a game of wizard chess. And to give you a slight chance I will let you think for as long as you like for your every move and I will limit my own thingking time to five minutes each turn." "I look forward to that little Weasel." He smirked at her again but she could se his eyes smiling at her and could not restrain her own lips from curving into a thin smile. The only one who noticed this except for Scorpius was Caitlyn and she pursed her lips thoughtfully.

Arthur Weasley had met all of them at the platform, just like he always did. He was thin and balding and even though his hair had started to turn grey the strands that were still red wore the flaming Weasley colour. Arthur Weasley hugged them hastily and they all hurried off to the car. James and Hugo were bickering the whole way back to the burrow about the quidditch game Hufflepuff had won. Hugo, who rarely got mad, became furious at James for trying to explain their victory with luck and a friendly judge. Rose sat quietly in the backseat, she had picked up a book as to not have any one trespass on her greatly needed solitude.

Chaos was a bleach metaphor to describe the moment when all the kids stormed the Burrow to meet with there waiting parents. Everyone had been set to work by Molly to prepare for the big Christmas celebration but all work stopped when the first shouts could be heard from the garden. With a wide grin in his face Ron came and met them, he gave Hugo a one armed hug and ruffled his hair with the other hand while congratulating him on the victory. Hermione was not far behind him and she gave Rose a hard hug and ensured her that she had been deeply missed. When her mother had finally let go of her Rose was caught-up in her fathers strong arms he planted a kiss on her forehead and stroked her cheek. She had really missed her parents, more so than she had thought but now that she was home again she became conscious to just how much. Eventually they got inside and sat down around a long table which was set with numerous pots and pans and plates which all contained enormous amounts of Molly Weasley's delicious foods. As Molly always did she fuzzed over them all being skinny and pressed them to eat double servings of everything. Rose did not feel very hungry and was happy not to sit in Molly's immediate closeness. They ate and chatted merrily for almost three hours before they began to break up and head for their respective homes. It felt like a pure bliss to snuggle down in her own bed and she fell asleep almost directly. Yet no matter how tired she was, her dreams were haunted and she turned restlessly in her sleep. When Rose awoke the next morning she felt hollow and her body was stiff. While she yawning padded down the stairs she tried to stretch the muscles of her back. Her mother was already up, it surprised her even though it should not have, Hermione was an early riser and this morning she was sitting by the kitchen table sipping tea while a couple of scones were baked in the oven. Rose sniffed in the air and made a liking sound as she entered the kitchen. With her legs tucked under her she made herself comfortable in the chair across from her mother. "Good morning darling. Did you sleep well?" Rose nodded to this after quickly deciding that telling her mother about her dreams would be unnecessary. They sat there together for about half an hour before a sleepy Ron and a half dead Hugo dragged themselves down for breakfast. Yesterday's dinner had been a great reunion but there had not been much time for Hermione or Ron to inquire after all that had happened to their children during the semester that had passed. This morning things had settled down and both Rose and Hugo had to answer what seemed like a never-ending stream of questions about tests, classes, friends and professors, and in Hugo's case, questions about quidditch and prefect duties. Rose answered all their questions and was rewarded with praises but they did not make her feel happy as they usually did. Every word of praise they sent her way only increased her shame. She could barley look her father in the eyes and when he turned to listen to Hugo's description of the quidditch game once again she felt relived. Her father had always been proud of her, he had expected her to be one of the top students but he had not had never weighted down her shoulders with impossibly high expectations. Apart from the expectation to perform well in classes the only thing he had expected from her was that she would stay away from Malfoy. Rose silently cursed herself for her own stupidity and made a promise to her unknowing father that she would do the most reasonable thing; simply move on and forget all about Scorpius. As Ron cleared the table with a swing of his wand Rose was awakened from her thoughts. She hurried up to her room to get dressed and then she joined her family at the fireplace. They were to go to Diagon Ally to make some last minute Christmas shopping, as they arrived it became evident that they were far from the only ones with that thought.

It had been almost four hours since they had started their shopping and Rose felt ready to faint. Despite the fact that she would always tease Lily who fiercely claimed that shopping should be counted as an exercise, at this point she felt declined to agree. After these hours of running in and out of shops and pushing herself through the crowded streets she had managed to buy gifts for everyone at last. For Miranda she had gotten a beautiful dairy which was bound in leather and decorated with silver ornaments. When Rose had laid her eye on the book she had wanted it for herself but knowing herself she realized she would use it a handful of times and then forget about it. Unlike her Miranda had the patience to sit down and really write every day. Edna's present had also been rather easy, she loved music and had fallen for a muggle artist that she had once heard at Rose's place. Consequently her gift had become a muggle CD. As most muggle technique did not work at Hogwarts Rose made sure that Edna would be able to listen to it and scribbled down the charm that the salesclerk had given her on a piece of parchment. She had brought the muggle CD in a store in Digon Ally that had opened only a year ago. It was a store which sold a wide selection of muggle things, mostly muggle technique, and it had become one of the most popular boutiques at Digon Ally. The muggle borne loved it because they could buy spells and charms that would make their techniques work at Hogwarts and the wizards and witches considered it peculiar and highly fascinating. The gift for Caitlyn had been the most difficult and she had at last decided on a pair of earrings. After careful consideration and some debating with the salesclerk she had decided on simple and elegant pearls, Caitlyn had a sort of cool beauty and looked best in the discreet sort of elegance. If Rose had picked a pair of earrings for herself she would never have chosen something like this, elegant jewellery did not fit her. They made her look boring; she needed a bolder kind of jewellery. She recalled one time when she had tried on a very pretty bracelet (however it did not look very pretty on) and how Edna had eyed it critically and said that she should wear the more exotic design. Rose had laughed at her friend that time but had later learned that Edna in fact had been right. Checking one last time that she had gifts for everyone; her friends, parents and Hugo, she let out a heavy sigh and looked for somewhere to sit down and rest her tired feet. Gifts for all of her cousins she knew she would not have to care abut, her parents (or rather her mother) would take care of that. There didn't seem to be any place to sit down, the few benches were already taken, well except for one but Rose did not feel like sharing a bench with the young men who was now staring at as if she was half naked. Pretending as if she had not noticed the she turned away from their rude staring and walked in the opposite direction. Their stare almost felt like a physical touch and trying to appear as if she did not care she did her best not to hasten her steps and to not start adjusting her clothing. Rose was not used to being stared at her thoughts went to Miranda who constantly caused men to stare and drawl after her. Rose had been with her on several occasions when something like this had happened and had always admired her coolness. "I'll give him that" she'd say with a shrug of her shoulders. When Rose was sure she was out of view she hastened her step and as she passed a shop-window she eyed herself out of the corner of her eye, but neither the black trousers nor the moss-green coat were out of place. It must have been the hair that had caught their attention she thought to herself. She had left it down today and it looked almost glowing in the light of the lanterns and the setting sun. Though she had felt a bit uneasy under their stare it was still a little flattering. She continued her way down Diagon Ally towards the Leaking Cauldron where she hurried inside the warmth and awaited the rest of her family.

Christmas day at the Weasleys was indeed a unique occurrence. It was the sound of someone walking down the stairs and the warmth of the sun upon her face that awakened Rose. Her eyelids fluttered open and for a moment she did not know here she was. As her brain started to wake up the realization dawned upon her that it was Christmas day and that she was located on the floor of her Aunt Ginny's old girl room. She sat up, still slightly sleepy, to find that she was the first one to wake up. Lily was sleeping beside her on the on the bed which had once belonged to Ginny.

To not wake Lily she crept out from under her blanket as quietly as she could and tiptoed her way out of the room. Hoping that everyone else had not already gotten up she headed for the livingroom where the Christmas tree always stood. The childlike excitement she'd always feel at Christmas had awakened when she took the last set of stairs. At Hogwarts Rose was one of the oldest of her family (that is if you did not count James and he often acted so childish Rose had stopped counting him) but when she came home for Christmas she was one of the youngest. As she took the first step into the living room the wooden floor gave off a sharp squeak, she froze in the middle of her motion but as there was no sign of either Dominique or Roxanne being waked she continued. Her two older cousins were sleeping in the living room; Dominique in her usual collected way while Roxanne moved and turned until she lay twisted into the sheets with one leg hanging down from the sofa. Dominique was the middle child of her uncle Bill, she had graduated from Beaubataux two years ago. Roxanne was her uncle George's daughter, she had, just as Dominique, graduated two years ago but she had graduated from Hogwarts. Rose and Roxanne had never been close to each other even though the age difference was not very big. Roxanne was more boyish and much less bookish. It was not that they disliked each other; the reason to their nonexistent relationship lay rather in the great different of interests. Dominique on the other hand had always liked Rose, and Rose had loved Dominique as a child, she had been her idol. However as Dominique went away to study in France they had drifted apart but lately they had become closer again.

As quietly as she could she moved towards the Christmas tree, under it were a great heap of Christmas presents and Rose started to search for her own name amongst all the labels.

"Eager as usual little Rosie?" Rose who had just found a gift wrapped in golden paper with her own name on snatched her hand back like the she had been burnt. Dominique laughed softly at her reaction and climbed out of bed to sit beside Rose at the floor squeezing her shoulders lightly with one arm. "I haven't seen you in a long time. How are you doing?" Dominique had arrived late the previous night and therefore Rose had not yet had a chance to talk to her. "Fine. What about you then?" Dominique closed her eyes and leaned her head back slightly, like she was trying to summon France and her home in Paris. "I love my new home and I love the people." "You only love them because they worship you." Rose teased her because she remembered how easily flattered her cousin was (even though you'd think she would have grown used to it by now) and the Frenchmen was very generous with compliments. Dominique laughed and she let out a theatrical sight. "I can't help that they worship me, I would have too if I were them." Rose laughed along with her cousin but jumped slightly as Roxanne grunted and made a wild twist in her sleep. Dominique giggled and turned back to Rose, she spoke in a whisper this time. "I heard Hugo were made a prefect." Rose nodded although it was not a question. "Dad and, especially Mum were really proud." Dominique made a bothered face and there was concern and reassuring in her voice as she spoke again. "You know they are very proud of you too, whenever I talk to them in the fire your d tells me of how brilliant your doing." She should have known better, Dominique was very sensitive for vibes and Rose figured Dominique must have picked up a hint of bitterness in her tone. Her cousin was training to become a psychiatric for Merlin's sake. She tried to make her tone neutral and happy. "Yes, I know." She thought of her father, how his blue eyes smiled at her, then another picture flickered in her mind; a senseless embrace and her father's voice echoing _"I trust my daughter's judgement." _The look Dominique gave her read a clear question to her sudden paleness and Rose forced a weak smile. "God, everything just started to spin, I think I need some water and something to eat before I faint." As Dominique's gaze went from question to worry Rose let out a mental sight. She stood up, slowly to make her dizziness more convincing and walked to the kitchen.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

To have all Weasleys spend the Christmas night at the Burrow was not possible, therefor Charlie, Percy's family and Teddy and Victoire had arrived during the day for the festivities. James, Hugo and Al had shared Ron's old room, Louis (Bill's and Fleur's youngest) and Fred (George's and Angelina's son) had shared the twins room. Percy's old room had been occupied by George and Angelina, Bill and Fleur had stayed in Bill's old room and Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione had stayed in the newly built guesthouse in the yard. The preparations for the dinner had been hectic and Rose had gladly helped with everything from setting plates to stirring sauce. She had chatted merrily with her cousins and lost a game of wizarding chess to her father. The bad conscious she had felt earlier that morning had slowly melted away and she had enjoyed spending the time with her family. Everyone had seemed in an uncommonly good mood and even Louis and James who usually despised each other had been polite with one another. There was only one thing that had made Rose uneasy: Lily had opened a gift from her boyfriend that had made Harry grumble something under his breath but one look from his wife had put a polite smile to his face. He had even managed to admire the necklace Jasper had sent and admitted that Jasper seemed like a nice guy whom he would like to meet. Lily had squealed at her father and hugged him for a long time and everyone else had gone back to opening their presents. Suddenly Dominique had asked whether Rose had **someone** or not. Luckily almost no one had heard the question but Hermione had and with her mothers eyes upon her Rose had answered Dominique that; no, she did not have a boyfriend. That was not a lie she thought to herself but as she had turned to pick up a gift wrapped in blue paper with silver stars upon she had seen Lily give her an intense look and a mischievous smile. After that Rose had not been able to shake off the fact that Lily suspected something and it was not a comfort to know that whatever Lily thought the truth was worse, way worse.

Later that same evening Rose had sneaked up to the room she shared with Lily to get a moment of solitude. It was a clear night and the stars were glistening outside the window. The sound of laugher made its way into the room from downstairs and the heat from all the people made the air humid. She opened the window and felt the cold and sharp winter air sweep into the room. A noise from some where in the yard made Rose tense for a split moment but then she relaxed again, she had never been afraid of the dark, on the opposite; darkness made her feel protected. A moment later the noise showed to come from Teddy and Victoire which had obviously escaped for a moment alone as well. As Rose stood there and hugged herself to fend off the bitingly cold air, a moving shadow appeared on the night sky. With narrowed eyes she tried to make out the shape which seemed to come closer. It took Rose some time to realized that it was an owl and that it was aiming for the window were she stood, consequently, when she finally saw that she barley had time to move out of the way before the owl flew in and landed on the bed. It was a big barn owl which carried a long package, Rose would have guessed it was a broomstick by the size and shape but she could not imagine who should have sent it, all the distant relatives that could not be here had already sent there gifts. It could of course be a late delivery from the shop... Her chain of thought were broken by a low hooting from the owl. It looked at her with its heart shaped face tilted to the side.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you won't have to carry that anymore." While whispering soothingly to the owl she untied the burden. The owl waited patiently and when she was done she petted it under the chin. When the owl leaned in to her touch and made a purring sound Rose chuckled and offered her left hand for the owl to climb on to. With the owl on her shoulder she picked up the package and checked the label, it simply read: Rose Weasley.

"For me?" her voice was sceptical but she unwrapped the paper carefully. Just as the shape had foretold it held a broomstick. Rose stared at it for a moment, she recognised this broomstick but that just made it all even stranger. Tied to the handle was a note, it was a small note written in brown ink.

_I got a new one for Christmas and I thought you could need one to practice on._

_SM_

The initials told her she had not been wrong; it was from Scorpius. She stared at the broomstick again, even though she knew very little about brooms she knew this was an expensive broom and she knew she should not keep such a gift, especially not when it came from someone that should sooner be called her enemy than her friend. Plus, perhaps it wasn't a gift at all. After all it made no sense that he should send her a gift. The memory of their hot embrace made Rose blush but those kisses had not meant anything and raw attraction would rarely get Scorpius Malfoy to send her a Christmas present. The note said nothing about the broom being a gift, as she thought about it he probably intended to let her borrow the broom for a while. Finally she decided to keep it but she wrote a quick note that she was glad that he lent it to her and after attaching the note to the owl's leg she sent the owl home to its owner. Allowing herself to linger by the window with the broom in her hand a small smile crept to her face but the feeling of something cold slowly crushing her heart made it a sad smile. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she did not care for him somewhere inside her she knew she did. It would have to pass away, to fall in love with him of all people was senseless and stupid, it was against all logic and reason and Rose Weasley was not an irrational person. Still her greatest stupidity lay not in the fact that she had fallen for someone her family hated and whose family hated her, her greatest stupidity was that she had allowed herself to fall for him.

Running steps suddenly appeared in the staircase and Rose quickly hid the broom in her magically enlarged bag. Too late she realized that the note still lay on the bed and just as she snatched it from the bed to hide Lily burst in to the room. She panted slightly and had her mouth open to say something but she broke of at the look of Rose. It took her less than the blinking of an eye to register the scene and make her own conclusions.

"Who is it?"

"Lily there is no one." Lily just arched an eyebrow and that was enough to tell Rose that she was still a lousy liar despite her success less than a week earlier.

"Rosie, come on. What other reason could there possibly be for you to ask me to lie to your friends for you and now you look like you're ready to die defending that piece of parchment. And you were out way after curfew that night when… …you know" The last part made Lily blush but she regained and gave Rose yet another piercing look.

_I could always beg to her nice side…_

"Lily its complicated, and there really is nothing interesting to know." Rose gave her red haired cousin a pleading look, Lily seemed to contemplate with herself.

"You're my cousin and Lily if you keep quiet I will return the favour." Rose smiled sweetly and gave Lily a hard look. Apparently Lily's kind side did not feel like listening this time but a mild threat always worked miracles on her. Lily's beautiful eyes widened of indication for a moment and then she flashed her greatest smile.

"Deal" Rose nodded back, this was at least a temporary solution, however Rose knew her cousin well enough to be aware that Lily strongly resemblance a pit bull when it came to never letting go. Therefore she had to act fast, before the next semester started she would have to have come back to her senses.

"We're playing charades down there and you're in my team. We have Dominique, Fred and Lucy on our team to but without you we don't have any chance to win." Lily said this as she walked down again and the last part was shouted over her shoulder. An outburst of indicated voices from "Lily's team" and laughs from the others could be heard. Rose drew a deep breath and hurried down after Lily, with a big smile in place.

_Let the charade begin. _


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: A little from the charade on demamd, I hope you enjoy it! And also I've understood that it is a costume to rite diclaimers so here we go.**

**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter characters are owned by JK Rowling and thank God for that.**

Chapter 11

"What the hell is that with your leg?!" Lily lay flat against the floor with one foot in the air. Her face wore an irritated and accusing expression while she kept doing odd twitches with the raised leg.

"A fish with spasms? What!? That's what you look like!!" From her place on the floor Lily shot Fred a dark look. Fred's exasperated guess had caused a roar of laughter, Lucy was hanging over the couch handle laughing so hard she could barley breath and she was not the only one, Angelina wiped her eyes from tears and Bill laughed in a wolf like manner with his head bent back. Rose on the other hand knew what the impression was supposed to embody. She tried to smile but she could not quite bring herself to laugh.

"Scorpion" she said the reluctance she felt made her voice timid but Lily had heard and flew up from the floor pointing at Rose with triumph. Everyone stilled a little at this but there were still some who giggled quietly. Charlie had stood to pick a piece of parchment himself but Lily stooped him. She was staring intensely at Rose and her hands moved eagerly as if to say; go on.

"What?! Scorpion isn't the word?" Lucy made a sour face as Lily nodded vigorously.

"You only got one more minute!"

"Shut up Dad!" Dominique sneered at him. Fleur made a disapproving sound but it was drenched when Lucy shouted; "Poison!" at the top of her lungs and Lily who had been mimicking someone being stung and falling down dead jumped up from the floor with a high-pitched; "Yes!"

The "Lily-team" that Lily called them cheered wildly when collecting points and the other teams muttered, Arthur who muttered a curse received a scold from the his wife. Everything was just as it usually was during the Weasley- Christmas but Rose could not really enjoy it as she usually did. It was as if she was waiting for something or as if there was something she should have done but hadn't. The tension had been building up slowly and even though she did everything to subdue it she could not quite ignore the anxiousness.

The action had been pondered in his mind ever since he had sent his precious Driscoll off. His father called this kind of behaviour 'a whim', his mother called it spontaneous. In this case he felt that he agreed more with his cynical father than his buoyant mother. When he had received the new broom from his grandmother the thought had sprung to his mind that it would be a shame to let the old broom collect dust in the broom cupboard. Scorpius had never been one to tie any bonds to things but he had appreciated his broom very much and was by no means worn out. Rose's laugh had replayed in his head and he had remembered the feeling of her auburn locks against his neck. She had seemed happy when she flew and even when she had flown alone had the fear been mixed with joy. _Why not send it to her as a gift? _Only after he had already sent the package off had he wondered how she would react to the gift. However he had shrugged it off, it did not really matter, after all it was a gift to show that not everything stays the same and that people can change too. His _whim_ was a proof of that.

"Bye, bye darlings!" Molly gave them all one last breathtaking hug before they disapparted. Rose who had already taken her test disapparted on her own while Hugo side along disapparted with Hermione. They had a house in the countryside near the sea, it was the wish of Hermione to live by the sea and Ron had given in to her pleading. After all this years he had actually learned to appreciate the location and the calm

A few days after returning to their home Rose had tried to read but found that she could not concentrate on the book. Normally Rose never had any problem with focusing, which was one of the reasons to her high grades; she had discipline enough to simply ignore feelings like restlessness. But this day she just could not ignore the feeling, sitting inside made her feel numb and shallow. Outside the weather was cold and raw, there was not much snow on the ground but the wind that blew in from the ocean held that specific kind of coldness that crept under your clothes no matter how warmly dressed you were. Her father and her brother had defied the icy wind and Rose were following their motions from the window. They were flying and joking around, making loops and throwing a quaffle between each other. There was no sense in going out at all and still in spite of the weather Rose found herself get up and heading for the door with the determination of joining her father and Hugo in the horridly cold wind. She thought of the broom in her room which was well hidden and a small wish of flying, mixed with fear, lightened in her mind. As she put on her jacket and her Gryffindor scarf her mother emerged from the kitchen with a questioning look on her face.

"You're going somewhere?" Rose gave a shrug of her shoulders.

"No, just going out for a bit." Hermione nodded looking mildly puzzled and returned to her baking as Rose opened the door. A hard low of the wind almost jerked the door out of her hand and she felt a shiver running through her body. It was Hugo who spotted her first and called out to her.

"Hey sis" the words sounded muffled in the wind and Rose waved as an answer. Her father noticed her too and flew down to her. He got off the broom and put an arm around her shoulders.

"What are you doing out here. Better be careful or you'll catch a cold." Rose bit her lip trying to decide herself why she had gone out in this weather. Hugo did a sharp dive and slowed down to circulate around them and Rose decided to tell the truth, or at least tell a bit of the truth.

"It looked fun flying and… …well I thought that maybe I should try it again." Ron looked at her, his face was baffled and he blinked at her.

"You _want_ to fly!? But you're positively frightened of heights!" Rose looked down for a moment.

"Here take my broom, do you remember how to do this?" her fingers gripped the broom her father offered and she felt how her heart pounded. The anticipation she'd felt was swept away by a flood of fear and she felt her muscles refusing to obey. Why was it suddenly so hard? When Scorpius had ordered her fly she'd done it, of course she had felt a bit of reluctance but she had gotten up on that bloody broom and shouldn't it be easier this time since she had already flown by herself?

"You don't have to if you don't want to." her fathers voice was soft and despite knowing that he only said this because he wanted to be nice Rose felt how his words irritated her. She had an answer on the tip of her though that she had flown by herself about a week ago but kept her mouth shut.

"Maybe another time…" Rose handed the broom back to her father and smiled apologetically at him.

"Sorry..." He squeezed her shoulders and nodded as to say that it was okay and got back up on the broom again and into the air. _You make it way to easy for me dad…_She thought about how Scorpius had spent several minutes to persuade her to fly. He had not made it easy on her and when she got down on the ground again she had felt proud of herself now she only felt like a failure and a coward. Somewhat everything had turned around: Scorpius made her feel proud and her dad made her feel like a failure. A feeling of doom came over her as she returned inside, a feeling that she was on her way towards disaster.


	12. Chapter 12

Authors note: Sorry for the delay in updating!! I hope you like this chapter and will really try to uplode again soon.

Chapter 12

The only sound that could be heard in the night was the sound of the wind blowing through the naked branches of the trees. Rose had been out here for half an hour. With the help of her lit wand had she managed to sneak out and wandered down towards the cliffs by the sea. It had taken only a short while for her eyes to adjust to the darkness after she had let the light out. With her left hand closed around the handle of Scorpius broom had she stood in the cold to work up enough courage to get on it and fly. Her whole body was shaking from fear and anger for feeling that unreasonable fear. She was going to fly tonight. _Just do NOT think_. But as Rose tried to throw her leg over the broom she could not, her body did not obey. The frustration that flowed through her made her kick the ground fiercely and let out an impatient grunt. Then with another deep breath she tried to force herself to relax and in one qick motion she mounted the broom and kicked off. The panic gushed through her as her feet left the ground and it took all of her willpower to hold herself in the air another 10 meters before landing again. Her breath was rapid and shaky. She could sense the adrenalin rushing through her system and bracing herself she took off again. Rose continued her "therapy" a few more times, flying a little longer for every time and eventually she flew for a full minute, sigsaging and diving a little. As she got down to the ground again and got off the broom she let out a sound in between a laugh and a sob. Down her cheeks ran tears of happiness, fear and exhaustion. She let the tears continue to slowly and silently wash over her face, there was no one here to see them now. A chill shook her body, reminding her that she had to return. Relucantly she began walking back, she did not care to light her wand, the light would make the world exist again and just for now she did not want to be a part of that world.

When she was back in her room she undressed and carefully folded her clothes and before putting the broom away she let her fingertips caress his initials. "This is madness…" Rose pressed her fingers to her temples in a useless attempt to force her mind to stop thinking of him. The first harsh kiss, the dangerous power he possessed, his small smile as he teased her, his seriousness and honesty as he talked her into flying with him, his smell, the feeling of his strong arms, the intensity in his eyes. Rose closed her eyes and let herself drift of to sleep thinking of Scorpius.

"Ah, Rosie, there you are! There was an owl for you." Ron said and indicated with one hand to a letter on the table. The inc was purple and Rose did not recognise the handwriting, she felt her father's mildly curious eyes, it made her feel irritated. She tried to ignore her own irritation; his reaction was a completely normal one. She herself would probably have asked what it was and who it was from. As the front door opened and a red-faced Hermione appeared Ron's focus shifted from his daughter. Rose took the chance to flee the kitchen, greeting her mother on her way to the living room. Still trying to figure out who the handwriting belonged to she opened the letter. It showed to be from Caitlyn, a short letter containing an invitation for a new year's party. In her purple inc Caitlyn apologised for the lateness of her invitation but begged that Rose should come.

"Mum, Dad! Euhm… … Caitlyn, a friend from Hogwarts invited me to a new year's party. Can I pleas go?"

"Caitlyn? I haven't heard her name before…" Her mother looked up from the newspaper.

"We met this year; her family brought a summerhouse in the same place where Edna has her summerhouse." Rose explained and her father nodded absentmindedly.

"How come you have never been friends before?" Hermione asked as she poured herself another cup of tea. Ron pushed his cup forward and she filled his cup as well.

"She is in Slytherin." It really was that simple, Caitlyn was in Slytherin and because of that the thought of them becoming friends had never even crossed their minds before. Saying it out aloud made her feel stupid and narrow-minded. She did not want to se herself like one of those persons that judged someone without knowing them. Her father gave her a slightly surprised look.

"Well of course you can go." Her mother smiled warmly at her and picked up a section of the newspaper, oblivion of Ron's somewhat uneasy look.

"Thanks mum, thanks dad!" and with that she hurried off to write her reply to Caitlyn. She reread the letter, Caitlyn had written a small party. As Rose tried to guess who else was invited, Scorpius immediately appeared in her thoughts. Of course he was invited, he was Nathan's best friend, but would he be there? For what felt like the hundredth time this past few days Rose tried to get him off her mind. With an impatient motion she ran a hand through her auburn hair. "Why am I being so stupid…?"

Four hours later an owl had arrived from Edna asking if she would like to come shopping. Apparently Miranda and Caitlyn had already said yes. The three of them had decided to take a tour in muggle London, Caitlyn had never really been there and was really looking forward to it.

Within two minutes Rose had sent her answer back to Edna, she had missed her friends and some shopping with them might be just the thing to snap out of her insanity. But she could not tell them, she had never before been in this situation; that she could not tell anyone what she was feeling. Her thoughts went on as she closed the door to her room. _If I could tell them what would I say? _She wasn't sure if she even wanted to put it in words. _I lost my heart to someone I know I can never be with, to someone I can't ever have a future with, to someone I should not love. _To be still was impossible, the uneasy feeling would not go away. With an air of desperation and despair she pressed her palms against her forehead. "Get your mind straight and just move on Rose. It can never be, YOU don't want it to ever be!" her voice was just a frustrated whisper as she tried to talk herself into feeling as she was thinking. "People fall in and out of love all the time…" The rest of the day she spent cleaning up in her room as she was not able to be still.

This would be a wonderful day! Rose had decided that the moment she woke up, this day was going to be an enjoyable one no matter what. When she arrived to the leaking cauldron where there were supposed to meet; the others were already there waiting for her.

"Whoa, did I get the time wrong, did we say ten and not eleven?!" She said jokingly looking at the big clock behind the counter.

"Veeery funny, but you know we are not late that often!" Edna tried to look offended but the curving of her lips just gave her a mischievous look.

"That is only because I remind you when all our classes start."

"Yes that's just it! Today we are going _shopping; _this is something really important and we need all the time we can get!" Caitlyn had already stood up and taken her handbag.

"So are you ready to go?" She fixed her shawl while the others got up, all of them was giggling. As they walked out of the door into muggle London Miranda through a glance over her shoulder at the young bartender with a simple: "bye", she let her eyes meet his and Rose pressed the back of her hand to her lips to muffle the new giggle. When it came to charming men Miranda was a true professional, the young bartender was already completely lost.

"I don't get how you do that!" Edna exclaimed with a laugh.

"It is not really that hard you know." Caitlyn put her arm under Edna's and gave her a devilish grin. "It's all in making them feel… hmm… impressive." Rose shook her head in an amused manner but she could not help but think back of her time with Scorpius, of the time when he had come to her rescue. His fury had been impressive and intimidating, she had felt small before his eyes and as she had looked up at him from his arms she had seen a glint of a strong, primitive want for revenge in his eyes. The memory almost made her shiver, but she forced herself to turn towards Miranda and pretend she had heard every word of what the tall girl had just said.

She had had a really fun time just as she had decided on, however her thoughts had kept going back to a certain blond boy, just as she had decided that they would not. With the thoughts had also a small voice appeared in her mind, a voice she knew belonged to the devil but which was sweet as honey and reassuring. A voice that told her what she wanted to hear without caring for what logic and sense said. _Is it really that bad? This could be an adventure; it is already done so what would it matter to play a little more with the fire? You are a strong and sensible person, when it is time you can just move on. Otherwise you will always wonder what could have been… No one will know… But I will always know._

Of course Caitlyn had managed to throw a great party, except for their usual little Hogwarts gang Caitlyn had invited some friends from outside school. Amongst those were Caitlyn's her cousin Devin, an incredibly funny guy who had managed to become friends with everyone at the party within the flash of a moment. Scorpius was there too, and with him Rose's tension had increased. For the first hour or so Rose had kept herself from casting to many glances his way, but when she suddenly turned and locked eyes with him she had to confess to herself that she had wished to feel his eyes upon her the whole time. He broke the eye contact and she saw him walk out of the room. For a second she fought the urge to follow but she already knew it was a lost case so she silently slipped out of the group and walked towards the doorway where Scorpius had disappeared. A sensation that she was being watched made her look to the left and she met the eyes of a guy she did not know, probably a friend of Devin's. In his eyes there was a definite interest, she cast down her own eyes and made her way across the room. As she entered the dark hallway she saw his silhouette leaning against a closed door.

"Hi" he greeted her and Rose felt the single word like a soothing caress that took away all the tension in one stroke.

"Hi" In the dark and with her eyes that had not yet adapted it was impossible to see his face. But she felt his eyes; they were fixed intensely on her face. Something seemed to change and Rose suddenly felt afraid.

"Thank you so much for letting me borrow the broom." She leaned against the wall opposite him and offered a thankful smile. In one swift movement he had pushed himself of the wall and stood infront of her. She felt her heart leap and then his lips covered hers.

"It was a gift Rose." His lips had left hers but he still held her in his arms. Rose didn't dare to open her eyes.

"What is this Scorpius? What are we doing?" She felt his eyes on her face, how they softly moved over her features, in the same way that she felt his hand caress her cheek.

"Do we have to know?"

"But what about everyone else?" Her eyes fluttered open meeting with his grey eyes. He looked calm, she could see the trace of passion in his eyes but none of the feelings she felt; desperation, guilt and love. He gave her a smile, it was a smile rarely seen on his face, at least by her. It was a smile that of reassuring.

"Well they are not here; let's not think about them, about reality, not now." He tone was light, and with his hand he made an impatient gesture as if he waved away reality just as he would wave away a fly. All the same his words made Rose feel numb. For him this was not real, and she knew it could never be. They did not fit in reality, she could see herself tell her father about Scorpius, she could see his resentment but she could not see any happiness beyond that. She knew herself; dreams would never be more than dreams and to let this become reality was a dream. For the first time in her life she felt trapped in her own life, held back by the ones she loved, held back by their love. With sadness she realised that the high thoughts she had had of her own moral were only the creation of a naïve girl. She knew what she would become if she did not turn around now, a mistress, and a toy. No matter how much he'd done for her she was only an infatuation. And all though she knew all this, knew that it was only a matter of time until they would fall apart, until he would get tired of her, she kissed him. A part of her wanted to be mad at him for stealing her heart but she could not lie to herself, she was the one that had given away her heart and he had not lured her with beautiful words and promises.


End file.
